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Dealing With The Death Of Elvis For Charity

Memphis-Artist Sabe Lewellyn and others exhibit works about Elvis in a show entitled "Burning Love". This event will benefit Youth Villages. George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Woody Guthrie have all been muses to Sabe.
This is the first time he has dealt with Elvis. Most of Sabe’s work deals with self, myth, and mysticism. He doesn’t know why he never thought of Elvis as a springboard for his work. “He is probably the biggest self in history surrounded by a nebula of myth,“ says Sabe. He continues, “ Elvis was very spiritually strong I envy that fortitude.” Sabe grew up in the Delta of rural southern Arkansas. Drawn by Tennessee’s musical heritage, he moved to Memphis in 1998. He is passionate about music seeing an interchangeable presence between poetry and music. as a meditation tool to lose and find self he explains.
The Exhibit is being held at Midtown Artist Market at 2027 Madison Avenue August 8th through August 20th. Opening night reception is on August 13th 7 to 10 pm. Ticket sales are $10 in Advance and $15 at the door.

Cool - thanks for the additional info. I wasn't aware of the name "Dead Week", never heard of it. I'm in Memphis during "Elvis Week", staying in a hotel very close to Madison - I'll be there and check it out!

To those who don’t live in Memphis you may be surprised at the title. How is the death of Elvis related? In Memphis locals refer to the second week of August as Dead Week. The name given to this same time by Elvis Presley Enterprises is Elvis week. We are all aware of it being timed with his passing. It is a time when we acknowledge the death of Elvis and celebrate his life. When Elvis passed it was a huge blow to our city. Now with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Gibson Guitar, Beale Street, and the Shell we have recovered from hard times. Now we’re Beyond Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train. When South Main was a place of pimps and prostitutes and Elvis Presley Blvd was a place to be scared.Partially musicians like Paul Simon gave us back Graceland with his Album we all felt the loss but he turned it to a Mecca for Music, Which is how Memphis once was. What my work in this show is the passage from humble boy to royalty. This is a story about a man who touched all our lives and hearts. If you have any more questions our concerns let me know.

I'm not sure what's bad taste about this...Sabe seems to really respect Elvis and a man and as an artist, and I find the way his art is described as intriguing. Bad taste to me was the choice to use Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Elvis in that miniseries this spring.